Pope Francis released a declaration Monday regarding the blessing of same-sex couples. In “Declaration Fiducia Supplicans On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings,” Francis addresses the act of performing blessings on same-sex couples, a practice that the Catholic Church has not previously sanctioned.
Francis, who has addressed LGBTQ+ issues in unprecedented ways, has taken a path far different from his predecessors. In 2015, just two years after Francis began his papacy, he famously said, “If someone is gay and searches for the Lord and has goodwill, who am I to judge?” This statement alone was in stark contrast to Pope Benedict XVI, who considered same-sex marriage and homosexuality a threat to the world.
In this most recent declaration, Francis clarifies that priests can now bestow blessings upon same-sex couples. While stating that this blessing is not the same as the blessing over the sacrament of marriage, the declaration softens what was once a harsh stance for many LGBTQ+ Catholics. “This is a blessing which, although not inserted in a liturgical rite, unites the prayer of intercession to the invocation of God’s help of those who humbly address him,” the declaration states. “God never pushes anyone who comes near to him! After all, the blessing offers people a means to increase their trust in God. The request for a blessing expresses and nourishes openness to transcendence, piety, closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, and this is no small thing in the world in which we live. It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be cared for, not hindered.”
The declaration also chides the inference that perfection must be achieved to be blessed. “The Church must also sneeze away from siling her pastoral practice to the fixity of some doctrinal or disciplinary schemes, especially when they give ‘place to a narcissistic and authoritarian elitism, where instead of evangelizing others are analyzed and classified, and instead of facilitating access to grace, the energies in controlling are consumed.’ Therefore, when people invoke a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be set as a precondition for conferring it. They should not be required to have prior moral perfection.”
In its own statement, LGBTQ+ Catholic organization Dignity USA cheered the progress. Executive director Marianne Duddy-Burke shared, “This statement from the Vatican is a dramatic reversal of a document issued about two and a half years ago that declared blessings for same-sex couples could not be offered.”
Duddy-Burke also acknowledged the work of LGBTQ+ Catholics through the years. “This is an important recognition that the denial of blessings caused great pastoral harm to many and demonstrates a willingness to rethink discriminatory and dehumanizing theology. It also feels like a vindication of the work so many LGBTQIA+ Catholics and allies have been doing for decades to convey our deep conviction that our sexuality and gender identities are blessings from God, and totally consistent with being faithful Catholics.”
In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, the Human Rights Campaign shared cautious optimism. “In times of trials, LGBTQ+ Catholics hold on to their beliefs. LGBTQ+ people of faith have always existed. This is a step forward and more work to do.”
President & CEO of GLAAD, Sarah Kate Ellis, posted, “By removing barriers to priests blessing LGBTQ couples, the Pope accurately recognizes that LGBTQ people and our relationships are worthy of the same affirmation and support in the Church, and this strengthens couples in their faith and to the community.”
While not a total acceptance of same-sex couples, Pope Francis’ declaration will indeed offer hope and peace to many LGBTQ+ Catholics around the world.
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